Online sales should be considered by companies as an opportunity, a means within their reach to improve the business, since they add value to the product and enhance the position of the company. However, in many cases there is no other option if they do not want to lose market share or, more importantly, be in it. For example, Jesus is King Hoodie, they presence on the web has forced all of its large and medium-sized competitors to develop online sales strategies in their businesses.
Considering the merely economic aspect, a company that sells online obtains a series of advantages, we highlight some:
- Availability at any time. Having an online store is like having an employee always available in the store so that customers can pass by at any time, see what you sell, and what they like to take away (paying for it of course).
- Lowering costs. If your business is totally online, forget about the cost of renting the premises, the electricity bill, the water, etc. But remember that you will have other costs such as accommodation, domain, etc. With this you can speed up the RRP a bit and get more attractive prices.
- Increased visibility. Expand your borders, do not stay at the local level, nor in representatives or intermediaries; Internet is a unique one for everyone so you will go as far as you propose. In addition, you can access the market that interests you with a more specialized audience if you wish.
- Better customer service. You can communicate the characteristics of your products / services in a more reliable way, you can also better serve the client when he makes a query, there are various means by which they can communicate with us (e-mail and chat are the two least intrusive means and best valued for communication with the client). You can also manage orders in a more efficient way reducing shipping times.
- Availability anywhere. As mentioned above, having an online store offers us the possibility that our products / services can be viewed and purchased from anywhere, currently the number of people with smartphone / tablet and internet connection anywhere is increasing by So why not buy some jeans while I enjoy a Sunday in the country?
- Facilitates customer loyalty and marketing. A customer in a physical store is still a spontaneous event with no memory, that is, it provides us with very limited and non-stored information about that customer and that experience. In online sales this is not the case, we know what products / services have interested each client with name and surname, at what time, which ones have they finally bought or if they have not, and we also have some personal data such as their date of birth , where you live … All this information can be stored and later analyzed with the aim of launching marketing campaigns or even customer loyalty campaigns (if we know when our client was born, why are we not going to congratulate him on the day of his birthday!).
But not everything is an advantage in online sales, or at least not everything is as beautiful as we tell it or imagine it! Selling online has many advantages but you have to be careful.
Selling online is not just selling through the web. On the web, it is not sold just for being on it. Online sales require a business plan adapted to the new environment and dedication of effort to this channel such as Kanye west website. In addition, in this business plan, if it coexists with a physical business, the physical stock of the store must be connected with the stock of the virtual store (we cannot sell something online that we don’t really have and we don’t know when we are going to receive it).